Disney's live action adaptations besides being one of the most unfortunate capitalistic schemes imaginable (not only are we just remaking our animated films that you all love, but we're going to do almost shot for shot reimaginings of every frame of animation with realistic CGI! What could possibly be shilly or greedy about this) have also mostly been of a single flavor.
Guy Ritchie's Aladdin remake however begins and continues through with bigger ambitions. Rather than copying word for word beat for beat wholesale the original Aladdin, this film version decides to rather change up a significant amount of the characterization.
For instance, rather than being a mostly humble thief, this Aladdin rather slips up quite a bit. He's not infinitely charming or infinitely handsome. This actually coincides with Jasmine's characterization, which is that rather than simply being a princess, she is a strong willed woman - perfectly characterized by Lindsay Ellis as Disney's revisionist feminist the #GirlBoss.
Even Jafar and Genie get new characterizations, with Jafar having a similar background to Aladdin and his goal as Sultan seeming more naturalistic than lustful. Genie is a bigger playboy so that it makes sense to have Will Smith playing the role instead of the more lovable Robin Williams.
Let me address this while the monkey turned elephant is in the room. Will Smith plays a great Genie. In fact, when it comes to thinking back Will Smith is going to wind up being one of my favorite parts of this film. There's a dumb myth when it comes to stunt casting like the original Genie and Robin Williams that when someone lands a role they can't ever be replaced. See: Wolverine and Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp and Jack Sparrow, and many many other roles throughout the years.
It would be one thing if like most Disney live action remakes the Genie in this version was entirely unchanged. Instead, it appears that Will Smith got to have his version of this role. Yes, he still performs most of the same plot actions as Robin Williams Genie, but just like the other characters, the flavor is different.
At one point Jasmine gets her character moment, to stand up to the corrupt Jafar, to show her passion and power as a voice of leadership to her people, to stand up to sacrifice to alter the situation she's standing in by voicing her feelings. This Jasmine is entirely different to the damseled Jasmine of the original film.
I haven't seen Jungle Book or Lion King yet, though I hear Favreau's realism is out of this world, but I can't help but think this is my favorite of the live action remakes. If we have to have these unnecessary retreads with their apologetic political tones and their unnecessary responses to Internet criticism, then perhaps they can take this bit into heart: use this time to deepen the original products rather than cash in on the hard work of the creatives that came before.
If the direction of the Star Wars franchise shows anything, it's that Disney may well be in a place where they want to dial back experimentation and actually play it safe for a while. This would be exceptionally detrimental to the art, creativity, and product coming from them in the future. Take the by the seat of your pants approach with these live actions as you do your Marvel series and other projects and we could have something truly great - eventually. As long as you realize when the film doesn't need to be a musical.
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I was able to rent Aladdin because of our access to Disney+ streamed through our Amazon Fire Stick. You can get one of these for your home by clicking the image below, which will also assist the blog in kicking me back a few bucks. Thanks for your support!
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